THE CREATIVE CORNER 2010-11: A NEW BEGINNING

 The Department of English has ever been encouraging the students to exhibit their best and nurtures it at the same time. With the same intention, the academic year of 2010-2011 began with the election of the student council for The English Club and ‘THE CREATIVE CORNER’ under the able guidance of Prof. Rekha Rai and Prof. Veena R. N. respectively.

The combined strength of all the three years elected the following students in the following positions for ‘THE CREATIVE CORNER’- a popular wall magazine managed by the department:

1.        Editor-In-Chief        - Pankaj A. Desai                   

                                         [2^nd year, B.A. (P.J.O.E.)]

2.        Sub-Editor              - Sriram Sharma           

                                         [1^st year, B.A. (P.J.O.E)]

3.        Editor                      - Meghana Shashidhar  

                                        [3^rd year, B.A. ( P.J.O.E.)]

For the ‘English Club’, the following students were nominated by the congregation:

1.          Convenor                         - Kavya Rao                 

                                                  [3^rd year, B.A. (P.J.O.E.) ]

2.          Co-ordinator (3^rd year)     - Hethal Vora      

                                                   [3^rd year, B.A. (P.J.O.E.) ]

3.          Co-ordinator (2^nd year)    - Vivek M.V.        

                                                   [2^nd year, B.A. (P.J.O.E.)]

4.          Co-ordinator(1^st year)      - Ragavi Krishna  

                                                   [1^st  year, B.A. (P.J.O.E.)]

‘THE CREATIVE CORNER’ set the ball rolling with the publishing of the 1^st edition in the month of September which was a commemorative edition celebrating the 150^th Birth Anniversary of the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. The 2^nd edition was published in October with the tag line ‘The world as I see it today’ which brought up youth related issues to the fore.

Coming as the 1^st edition of the new year 2011, the 3^rd edition of ‘The Creative Corner’, spoke of ‘New-year Resolutions’ and of the significance of the Makar Sankranti festival. Also, this edition saw the birth of a new section in ‘THE CREATIVE CORNER’ called as ‘INTIMATE MUSINGS’ which brought forth a revolutionary idea, if when perceived by a sensitive mind, had the potential to spark self-contemplation.

The month of March saw the inter-collegiate poetry writing competition ‘WRITE HERE, WRITE NOW!’ being organized on the 5^th of March in our college with more than 40 participants coming together to pen down their original verses for this event. This was a grand success both in its execution as well as the benefit that it reached out to the student community. The winners of the competition were awarded rich cash prizes as well as internship opportunities in a leading youth magazine ‘THE STUDENTS’. Concurrently, the ‘English Club’ organized a lecture by the renowned speaker and writer Dr. Vijaya Subbaraj who spoke on the topic ‘How to bring out the creative writing streak within us?’ The lecture was very well received by the audience who posed insightful queries to the speaker much to the delight of the speaker herself.

The 4^th edition of ‘The Creative Corner’ was entirely dedicated to the varied range of poems written by the students in ‘WRITE HERE, WRITE NOW!’ Some of the best poems were published in this edition and in the 5^th edition which too quickly followed in the tone set by its predecessor in March. This event was instrumental in providing a platform to budding poets and also showcased extensively the talent that lay dormant in our students. Moving away from the tradition yet again, the 6^th edition celebrated the essence of the short story. Providing a platform to potential writers and a wider canvas to display their works on- has been a satisfying experience for me, as the Editor-In-Chief.

The 7^th edition was taken up by the entries on the ‘Caption writing competition’ which explored the delicate relation between man and nature. Sharing space with it were essays that contemplated on the emergence of India as a sporting superpower and on the role of the media as a means to social revolution. Ultimately, bringing the curtains down on a year of creative pursuit, the 8^th edition was published in April with an array of literary contributions.

In the pursuit of further widening the scope of ‘THE CREATIVE CORNER’ from just being a wall journal to that which actively promotes creative writing amongst the students, I came up with the idea to introduce ‘THE CREATIVE CORNER’ to a wider audience. Thus, the ONLINE EDITION of ‘THE CREATIVE CORNER’ came to be!

www.mescreativecorner.blogspot.com is now where the ONLINE EDITION is hosted with all the editions right from the 1^st to the 8^th edition, along with the publicity posters being archived for times to come. Also, to keep up with the changing times, students were given the option to email their contributions through the email address: ilovecreativecorner@gmail.com

My tenure as the ‘Editor-In-Chief’ of ‘THE CREATIVE CORNER’ has been a very eventful one and has given me immense satisfaction. I am grateful to all my fellow-students for giving me this opportunity to be in constant touch with creativity and the pursuit of dreams through their varied contributions.

I thank all my fellow-members of The English Club and

‘THE CREATIVE CORNER’ for their insights and support. I will ever remain grateful to the faculty members of The Department of English for their reliable guidance and constant encouragement.  I hope that ‘THE CREATIVE CORNER’ under the premises of The Department of English would only scale higher peaks in times to come and will continue to encourage an ever growing population of students to bring out their creative best!

PANKAJ A. DESAI

4^TH SEMESTER, B.A. (P.J.O.E.)

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF,

THE CREATIVE CORNER

WHEN I DREAM…

Let me sleep,

For when I sleep,

I dream that you are here,

That you are mine,

And all my fears are left behind.

I float in the air,

And nightingales sing gentle lullabies.

So, let me close my eyes and dream.

Though just a dream,

Only a dream can bring me this.

So, let the moon shine softly,

On the boy, I long to see.

And maybe when he dreams,

He’ll dream of me…

POEMS SUBMITTED BY:    HARSHITA BAGUR

                                                1^ST YEAR , BCom.

SECRET

Life shines on the tip of a mountain,

Watching the sun rising high:

Did the sky covered in blue,

But, then my dreams cry!

What does it take to reach the top?

I question my own mind,

Why don’t I have an answer for this?

Is my knowledge blind?

It’s just sincerity and perseverance, says the sun,

Who works day in and day out,

Oh, so plain and so simple it seems to be!

But, isn’t there a lot to think about?

Besides theses, there is determination that ought to be,

With honesty and dedication coming together.

All of this with a bit of will power and common sense

Can help us to fly to the top with a steady

And a colourful feather.

JUST ANOTHER NUMBER

I remember the first few times we met,

You brought her along

She was my senior in school,

I dint think too much..

You said you guys were friends,

Later never did u mention her

And i dint think too much.

But what is it that i hear now

From a long forgotten friend?

She says "please get over him

He dated her, in fact they were madly in love !"

And you always quoted your phobia?

 I'm lost for words

Does this explain it all?

The endless list of girls that you date?

Am i counted among them too?

You were my Rock-star,

My love,

My whole world,

And i was just another number!

POEM BY: HARSHITA BAGUR

                   2ND SEMESTER, B.A.

CALLING WORDS

Spending my time,

In watching the drops of rain,

Which makes me happy,

Even in times of pain!

The pain is when the thought of your separation,

Makes its way into my mind:

The thought or problem, may be unique,

But, the solution I must find.

Heart full of fears,

Eyes filled with tears,

This is a tale of my sorry state,

It’s just your arrival,

That can repair my fate.

My poems, in words,

Are the invitation cards inviting your pleasant presence!

Please do not refuse, to oblige to my invite,

As your refusal will make the world,

Witness my absence!

POEM BY: SHASHANK J.
                  4TH SEMESTER, B.A.

“FACEBOOK” AS A REHAB CENTRE FOR “TWITTER” ADDICTS!

I’ve recently been using the popular networking site, most spoken in gossips and a dear friend of the youth; yes, I’m talking about ‘Facebook’. Before using Facebook as a major source of information and gossip, I chose ‘Twitter’ and am known as a twitter addict even to this day!

Twitter is yet another of the more popular networking site in the E-World and has attracted many users such as celebrities, business people and also by the common mob; thanks to Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone [Founders]. In twitter one need not go through everyone’s profile to know what they’ve posted or what are they up to. Here everything is made easy as friends’ status will appear on the homepage [known as timeline] of the user; this reduces the look out of the user. Twitter is a site which is built up of rapid status updates by people and each of these twitter’s status is termed as a ‘tweet’. Each tweet is limited to 140 characters and I feel this is a great idea wherein one can build up the art of putting up the thoughts and ideas in just 140 characters; it sure increases efficient communication. Now you may get a question saying how one can communicate in twitter. Well, no social networking site is created without providing the facility of communication! In twitter too, one can communicate through replies to status messages [known as mentions] and direct messages [known as DM’s]. People follow you based on your ‘bio’ [information about yourself] and your ‘tweets’. Twitter users can upload their photos by connecting from a different site related to twitter. Apparently, there are many such sites opened up which ultimately leaves the choice in the hands of the users. Two such sites are Tweetphoto and Twitpic. There is something called as ‘Retweet’ [known as RT] in twitter, this option is available when you want to share somebody else’s tweet with your followers. The above information was an overview of the massive website – Twitter.

Moving on to another most popular networking site in the E-World, that is, Facebook,  I feel this site entertains people more than what Twitter does and thanks to Mark Zuckerberg [Founder]. The sense of subtle designing of the whole web page leads it to be outstanding! The idea of ‘wall posts’, direct ‘like' option and immediate spacing for the ‘comments’ is more attractive. The availability of numerous games has made the users to be at an ease in networking. The best thing I noticed in Facebook is the presence of the record of the past usage of a Facebook user; this concept is very much accepted by all and also one can keep a track of what he or she was doing in Facebook. This is all for now that I am able to elaborate on Facebook.

According to me, both the social networking sites have their own advantages and disadvantages. Yet both of them have attracted great masses and also try to improve on being more impacting on the users. Since, Facebook has many other features, it is more fascinating and thus, I call it a ‘Rehab Centre’ for people who plainly keep tweeting and these instant tweeters are termed as ‘Twitter Addicts’ in my dictionary.

ARTICLE SUBMITTED BY: SUHASINI B.S.

                                       4^TH SEMESTER, B.A.

POCKET FULL OF DREAMS

I close my eyes n I see your face there

I open them n still see u here

Life seems to be beautiful pain

But Have I gone insane

'Coz you are with me only in my brain...

Is this a hallucination?

Where I can’t tell fantasy from reality?

So wonder struck am I with your imagination,

That my peace of mind has become a rarity!

But who says that life is an empty dream?

When I have a pocket full of dreams!

But now I snap back to reality

And I certainly don’t like the insecurity...

So I choose to seclude myself in my dream

Yes,, I would choose my dream

Coz who says life is but an empty dream

When I have a pocket full of dreams!

 POEM BY:   HARSHITA BAGUR

                      2ND SEMESTER, BCom.

INJUSTICE TO NATURE

A world filled with greenery,

Lovely soothing scenery,

Green tress galore,

Fragrant flowers adore.

Sparrows chirping by,

And others flying high,

All of this, with ‘man’ on Earth,

Surely must be a dream’s worth.

Nature has been kind to man,

Although man has not been kind so:

It has always tried to be his friend,

But, he has always been her foe.

Nature doesn’t lament,

Man doesn’t care:

What a sorry state this is!

As there is no justice,

Inspite of being fair.

POEM BY: SHASHANK J.

                   4TH SEMESTER, B.A.

JWALAMUKHI – A PLEASANT JIFFY

Jwalamukhi is an NGO that rolled-up into our college five months back. It is an organization which deals with mentoring children [at their influential age, 11, 12 & 13 years] about Environment, Civic and Social issues. The sessions held would be more through games, projects and practicality. Jwalamukhi has not only worked for bringing in us the change in attitude to the most positive terms but we have also been given thorough knowledge of the past, the present and an idea of how the future is going to be. This organization has brought in us amelioration.

I would love to share my experience on account of my five-month association with this organization. I prefer presenting it before you from the beginning. When I say beginning, it is not from when the first mentoring session started but from the day when we [my classmates & me] were trained on ‘how to mentor’. We had two training sessions; both were amazing and certainly informative. Dr. Meena Jain handled both the sessions. We were taught what mentoring means and how it is to be practiced flawless.

Very well till now! The actual work began on 26th June, 2010. It was my first day to sign in as a mentor. I was pretty nervous as the work was all about interacting with the kids and understanding them; I was no good at this trait off-work as well. Every second as I got closer to the actual session to begin, my heart palpitated like never before. Finally, it came down to the few seconds for the beginning; I covered up my nervousness and presented myself well. The session began with a small introduction to the kids about who their facilitators and mentors were. The children then participated in games conducted by the facilitators; mentors too took part in it. This helped us to have small interactions with the kids and it definitely made me feel at a little ease. After this, the kids were asked to introduce themselves to the gathered crowd. Some of them were really talented and they even gave us a demo of their talents. The very first day itself children left me amazed at the end of the session; their innocent questions and rapid guiltless answers startled me for some time.

As the sessions proceeded, the quadrangle of the college was filled with these jaunty broods running here and there, the walls accepted everyone’s hollers. Children from different schools got an opportunity to talk and play with each other without having any sense of disparity in between them. Later on, all the children were put into certain groups so that the sessions could work more meticulously. It was a wonderful experience when I helped my team kids in their assignments and projects. I was surprised to see that they took up all the homework seriously and did it with complete interest. Slowly, I could feel that some kids were getting close to me; they shared their happiness consistently.

Only the interactions with children hasn’t evolved me to be better but also those lecture sessions, guest-lectures and power point presentations have also edified me more. Along with the kids, I too got a chance to learn many new things and implement it in my own life. The class from which I extracted immense knowledge was on communicative and presentation skills. I was so delighted to know much about these skills. This generation somehow enthused in me the desire to speak out some words on the closing occasion of the first session. I must say that this was the first time wherein I stood up to speak my own words in front of a huge crowd; it was a nice and an inspiring experience for me. Sure on this act, Jwalamukhi became a platform for not only the children but also to me. In addition to this cheerfulness, I was left to enjoy much more happiness as the Jwalamukhi team members chose me as one of the three mentors who contributed [read: contribution through handling a social networking website and writing few reports on the professional blog] what we could to this organization and offered me a certificate. Well, in that case I got two certificates at the end, one – Certificate of Achievement and two – Certificate of Excellence.

Nevertheless, Jwalamukhi has become an influential club for me. It has inculcated in the children and in the mentors the spirit of care towards ‘Mother Earth’. I must admit that my five-month journey in this organization has changed my perception about NGO’s and their commitment to work. I also had an opportunity to observe at close quarters and participate in their activities; this has given me an insight into their working style. Seeing the way the children are spear-heading the movement towards a greener earth and the efforts being made to change themselves to future leaders, I’m sure they are more concerned and responsible and would bring about an appreciable change. This will certainly stand them in good stead in life. Holding a hope for the second session to start off with much more massive force and zeal, I put an end to my note.

ALONE AT LAST...

Alone at last, into the horrid world

Look at life, it’s just absurd.

Lonely i am now;

Thinking why.

I wonder how the emptiness came by.

My mind deprived of the voices inside,

Talking through those times that went by.

Lonely i stand, lonely i walk.

I look at myself and think what life's worth about.

The pain of standing as the world moves!

Alas, i wish my time will come soon

In a moment of silence,

Faith toils into the emptiness of my heart.

The only person now i know stays in my head that’s hard to part.

If only i could love this life,

I wish the loneliness would just die inside,

Tears fall, we may cry

But, the pain of loneliness can never be said by.

As red as the blood that flows out,

When you find none by your side.

You sit aside in a cold dark place,

You try to figure out what life really is

And you sit there yet alone, once again

Trying to find a person to cry onto, once again.

Hope i could close my eyes,

Let the tears flow from my heart, yet again.

POEM BY: SRIRAM J. SHARMA

             2^ND SEMESTER, B.A.

A THIRST UNKNOWN

With a thirst to quench, I ventured

Into many a field unknown;

Wanting to soothe my parched soul,

I searched for a drop of life

That I could call my own!

Waiting in many a land

For a time so unmeasured,

I grew so wanting for more;

Taking the least from myself,

I still craved for the unknown!

Finding a stream, I found my dawn

In the awakening of a realization.

It was in my thirst that I found,

A reason for my find,

Now, that I had so beautifully got!

As it was in my thirst that I found,

It was in my finding that I felt

An immeasurable thirst unknown.

What miracle of nature could quench

My thirst is a saga untold!

Through the smile of a beloved

I realize all my dreams!

Quenching the thirst of my soul,

Now, I crave for even more;

For the joy that may fill her soul!

POEM BY: PANKAJ A. DESAI

                   4^TH SEMESTER, B.A.

TEN STEPS A BLOGGER MUST FOLLOW

In the recent years I’ve learnt a lot from being a blogger. To become a blogger you just need to have the ability to spare some time and write out experiences onto a paper [read: here it is a WordPad]. You can always get your articles edited with the help of learned people. What I have today to share with you are the ten features that a blogger must possess and they are as follows:-

i. Selfsame – There are multifarious styles of writing and presenting one’s thoughts in a very attractive manner, but when it comes to self, you must make an attempt to write out in the style of your own [read: writing style indicates the sentence structures and the usage of vocabulary]. Initially, you may not get active readers but as your blog grows, you will definitely learn to write well. One thing you must pay heed to is that your blog must represent yourself.

ii. Frequent blogging – You can improve your writing style only when you write more. So, make it a point to find out instances or topics which inspire you much to write an article on.

iii. Varied – Writing on different topics would help you inculcate in yourself a broader outlook instead of writing on one particular theme [read: this would differ if your blog is completely on one particular aspect, that is, fashion, sports, politics, etc.]. Once you are capable of writing on any topic, then you can write detailed articles.

iv. Implementation – Application of the writing skills [read: format] will certainly help you to classify and organize your writing style and in turn your thoughts.

v. Limits – Allow your boundaries to set themselves naturally. As you write and read the comments you get, you will know what to mention and what not to mention in your articles.

vi. Embarrassment – You must be bold enough to face the humiliation at the beginning especially if you have not written an article before. Never be afraid of being embarrassed, it only happens for the good.

vii. Quality of language - Try your best to spell correctly and use proper grammar. Once you start writing posts with no mistakes [read: w.r.t. spellings and grammar], then you get a wide path to move on to improvising the usage of vocabulary.

viii. Networking sites - If you have accounts in networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, you can learn more from the ‘status updates’ from other people. Since, these status updates are limited to few words, you can try shortening your thoughts and writing it. In this way you will learn how to make your sentences short n’ crisp.

ix. Decoration – Choosing the templates may seem to you as a non-important feature, but, I bet you on the fact that if the design of your blog is catchy enough, you have won it – readers! Another feature which accompanies templates is-pictures. You can upload pictures which are aptly coinciding with your articles. This will ensure the reader that the article is not boring and not droning.

x. Valuing readers - Value every person who takes time out of their day to stop by your blog. Only if you respond to the readers’ comments, you will be able to amass many readers [read: readers never fail to pass on information about what they have read; hence, this routine is advantageous to the blogger]. Mind you, the response can be given personally also.

The above few steps were the ones I followed and still following to present in front of you [read: readers] good and interesting articles.

I just hope this post helps any of you in improvising your blogger life.

ARTICLE SUBMITTED BY: SUHASINI B.S.

                                               4^TH SEMESTER, B.A.

INTIMATE MUSINGS - 8TH EDITION

EDITORIAL NOTE - 8TH EDITION

We are happy to bring out the EIGHT EDITION of ‘THE CREATIVE CORNER’ for the year 2010-11. This comes as the final edition to what has been a series of highly interesting contributions from all you fellow-students.

We thank all the students who have contributed to this issue and exhibited their literary talents.

- PANKAJ A. DESAI                                      -  EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Your contributions and feedback are welcome at: ilovecreativecorner@gmail.com